The invention relates to a method for alleviating symptoms of tobacco withdrawal in humans dehabituating from a tobacco habit over a withdrawal period of several weeks. In particular, the invention relates to a regimen for dehabituating humans from the use of tobacco, particularly smoking, with decreased recidivism rates.
The use of tobacco has been characterized as one of the most difficult of habits to break. Many methods have been proposed for assisting tobacco users in their efforts to permanently reduce or eliminate their dependency on tobacco, most of which are directed to the modification of their behavior or physiology to alleviate withdrawal symptoms of nicotine (the generally acknowledged active factor in this habit, see e.g., J. Exp. Psy. General 106, p. 5, No. 1, 1977, Schachter, Silverstein, et al.: "Because cigarette smoking can be a difficult habit to correct, it is generally assumed that tobacco is addictive with nicotine as the active agent."), and thereby curb the customary urge to resume the use of tobacco. The physiological effects of nicotine on the human body are complex, however, and it has proved difficult to correlate physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms with these effects and provide a simple, efficacious, and non-toxic pharmaceutical treatment which alleviates these symptoms. As a result, few of these methods have proved consistently effective, and recidivism is common, even when an extended period of abstention has been achieved.